Botswana Records Surge in Lithium Batteries Theft as Global Demand Soars - Voice of America - VOA News

Gaborone, Botswana — 

Authorities successful Botswana are reporting accrued thefts of lithium batteries from mobile telephone towers amid a surge successful planetary request for the artillery successful electrical vehicles. The confederate African nation's biggest mobile web relation says it has mislaid much than $100,000 worthy of lithium batteries successful the past week alone.

Botswana constabulary spokesperson Diteko Motube said astir of the stolen batteries are being smuggled crossed the borderline to Zimbabwe.

Motube said 5 suspects from Zimbabwe and a Botswanan nationalist were arrested this week portion successful possession of batteries worthy much than $100,000.

The batteries were stolen from Botswana’s starring mobile web work provider, Mascom.

Company spokesperson Tebogo Lebotse-Sebego said the thefts are derailing their work delivery.

"This contented is surely a situation and it is affecting our prime of services ambitions," said Lebotse-Sebego. "We are moving intimately with the applicable instrumentality enforcement offices and different administrators, including the assemblage to find sustainable solutions to apprehension the situation."

Electric cars substance request

There is simply a surge successful planetary request for lithium batteries – and their components – owed to their usage successful electrical cars.

However, Zimbabwean-born UK based economical and governmental expert Zenzo Moyo said the thefts successful Botswana could beryllium the effect of the predominant powerfulness outages experienced successful immoderate confederate African countries.

“It is not astonishing that these lithium batteries are successful precocious request present chiefly due to the fact that of the load shedding that is being experienced successful confederate Africa particularly successful Zimbabwe and South Africa," said Moyo.

Some households usage lithium batteries for star lighting, portion airy industries besides trust connected them.

Moyo said determination is simply a immense marketplace for the batteries successful countries — specified arsenic Zimbabwe — that are turning to alternate vigor sources.

"The economical hardships that Zimbabwe look cannot beryllium utilized arsenic an excuse for immoderate benignant of theft whether these are batteries oregon not," helium said. "If you look astatine the numbers that (the police) intercepted — these are immense numbers — it indicates that the radical who were carrying these batteries are either runners oregon were selling them. There is simply a immense marketplace for them understandably but the radical that were carrying these batteries cannot beryllium radical who are starving but selling due to the fact that determination is simply a market."

Demand greater than supply

Lithium’s terms has risen 13-fold successful the past 2 years, with planetary request for the metallic rapidly outpacing supply.

Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, a London-based terms reporting agency, projects, that the lithium mining marketplace volition astir treble successful the adjacent 8 years to astir $6.4 cardinal successful 2030.